El Salvador

The World Food Programme said today it has begun providing emergency food aid to vulnerable people in Ethiopia’s Tigray region and urgently needs $170 million to meet critical food and nutrition needs over the next six months.  The agency noted that the outbreak of conflict there coincided with the peak harvest period.

More than 119,000 people hit by Tropical Cyclone Amanda in El Salvador need assistance, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund, which estimates that $2.2 million will be needed for critical sanitation, shelter and child‑protection support to over 35,000 people in shelters and impacted communities.

Some 50 people died in three attacks in Burkina Faso’s northern regions — the Sahel, North, Centre-North and East — marking the deadliest violence since March, when 43 civilians were killed during two attacks on northern villages.  Rising insecurity is making it difficult to reach the 2.2 million people in need of aid throughout the country.

The United Nations and the Government of Bangladesh are making preparations as Super Cyclone Storm Amphan approaches landfall tomorrow, potentially impacting more than 14 million people in the country.  The Humanitarian Coordination Task Team and the Government are working on preparedness and response activities.

The United Nations refugee agency today welcomed El Salvador’s new law that will help protect internally displaced people.  The legislation opens the doors for tens of thousands of victims of forced displacement in the country to gain access to life-saving humanitarian assistance and to have their basic rights restored.

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has appointed Birgit Gerstenberg of Germany as the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Belize and El Salvador, with the host Governments’ approval.

The World Food Programme launched its biggest emergency response for Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh this year, following this week’s heavy rains and flooding.  In 24 hours, WFP reached 16,000 people with food aid — more than the total number of people it has reached since the start of the monsoon season.

The new Permanent Representative of El Salvador to the United Nations, Egriselda Aracely González López, presented her credentials to UN Secretary-General António Guterres today.

Following is United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres’ message, delivered by Christian Salazar, Regional Coordinator for El Salvador to the United Nations, on the occasion of the twenty-seventh anniversary of the signing of the Salvadoran Peace Accords, in San Salvador today:

The United Nations country team in El Salvador will meet tomorrow to develop a plan of action following the Government’s declaration of a red alert emergency due to the severe drought affecting some 77,000 farmers growing corn, one of the country’s main staple foods.  Eastern El Salvador has reported 33 consecutive days without rain, and record temperatures reaching 41°C.